Dec 24 2011:
@Zared After reading the posts, I think you should change the wording of your question. You want the single most profitable market item.....That is totally different from the greatest. They are two different things.

Profitable implies the one that made more money. The greatest could be the most sold, not necessarily a money maker or profit maker.

As to a religious object sold for profit, I would like to suggest: crosses, rosaries, saint stamps, saint bracelets, or any other kinds of religious good luck charms...People can't get enough of them, whether they are religious or not.

Dec 24 2011:
As far as United States, Europe and South and Central America I would probably venture to say the cross. It is used as jewelry, but also in stickers, pencils, stationary,as well as wall decoration made of wood, porcelain, brass, etc etc etc.....People hang in from their rearview mirror, and have it on bookmarks, keychains, the list goes on and on.

Indoor pollutants from cooking fires causes illness and death (and if you insist I go find stats I can do that later - I don't have them at hand an am not about to make them up).

Women are disproportionately the victims of burns from same fires.

Gathering fuel and tending to the cooking fires takes up a ridiculous chunk of the day.

One invention more than others comes to mind as revolutionizing the lives of people - particularly of one half the population, but society as a whole benefits. It frees up the women's time to contribute elsewhere.

The cost vs the benefits is minor. Bringing the price of cooking stoves down to being affordable in developing nations should be a goal of us all. (And no, it's not enough to have a stove if you have no food.)

Dec 23 2011:
OK, then there is no question about it. If you are tallying votes, add one for RELIGION.$$$$$$$$$!
Any product which claims to gave favor with god, and can be molded to fit the needs of any customer is going to be hard to beat as a cash generator.

Dec 24 2011:
1) People fear the wrath of god. Religion seizes the global marketing opportunity to offer a complete program of protection from the coming wrath.
2) Shop owners fear local gangs so they pay them to not harm their business. The product is protection.
3) Clothing, cosmetic and fragrance companies prey on people's fear that they will not be attractive enough.
4) Autompbile makers assure fearful customers that driving their car will project the image they want, rather than the one they fear.

Dec 24 2011:
Zared,
You asked me to pick one of the four examples from my response above and I told you RELIGION. Read number one above and you have my opinion. You are accumulating duplicate responses. Thanks for your contribution.